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Ok, I just finished watching the entire series and... I'm at a loss. I can't understand what the war is all about. Can you guys help me, please?

Spoiler for 3rd series plot:

Let's see: Yuji goes missing, and is later discovered to have merged with the Snake of the Festival. His plan is to make a new world for the Tomogara so that Flame Hazes, Shana in particular, wouldn't need to burn themselves by fighting. For some reason I didn't get, Flame Hazes want to stop him. Why would they want that? Isn't it for the best if Tomogara leave this world?
Anyway, the Snake finally manages to create his Xanadu. Shana hacks it by putting a rule that says eating humans is forbidden. Why? There will be humans in Xanadu too?
So the Tomogara leave, and suddenly the Flame Hazes go 'Oh, I guess it wasn't that bad after all.' and they decide to go to Xanadu too. I mean, really? What was that whole damn war for, then?! Isn't their goal the exact same? Shouldn't they have cooperated in creating the new world? And what was that proclamation from the goddess in mid-fight? Why does it sound like Tomogara and Flames will be fighting in the new world too?
In the end, Yuji battles Shana for... uh... no reason? He wants to be with her, she wants to be with him, yet they end up fighting each other. What for?

Seriously, I feel like I'm missing a large part of the plot, because as of now it makes no sense whatsoever, and I only have confusion in my head. If someone could be so kind as to enlighten me, please do.

Ok, I just finished watching the entire series and... I'm at a loss. I can't understand what the war is all about. Can you guys help me, please?

Spoiler for 3rd series plot:

Let's see: Yuji goes missing, and is later discovered to have merged with the Snake of the Festival. His plan is to make a new world for the Tomogara so that Flame Hazes, Shana in particular, wouldn't need to burn themselves by fighting. For some reason I didn't get, Flame Hazes want to stop him. Why would they want that? Isn't it for the best if Tomogara leave this world?
Anyway, the Snake finally manages to create his Xanadu. Shana hacks it by putting a rule that says eating humans is forbidden. Why? There will be humans in Xanadu too?
So the Tomogara leave, and suddenly the Flame Hazes go 'Oh, I guess it wasn't that bad after all.' and they decide to go to Xanadu too. I mean, really? What was that whole damn war for, then?! Isn't their goal the exact same? Shouldn't they have cooperated in creating the new world? And what was that proclamation from the goddess in mid-fight? Why does it sound like Tomogara and Flames will be fighting in the new world too?
In the end, Yuji battles Shana for... uh... no reason? He wants to be with her, she wants to be with him, yet they end up fighting each other. What for?

Seriously, I feel like I'm missing a large part of the plot, because as of now it makes no sense whatsoever, and I only have confusion in my head. If someone could be so kind as to enlighten me, please do.

Spoiler for Response:

Xanadu would've been a perfect copy of Earth with an endless bounty of Power of Existence, but if that was all, there was nothing stopping Tomogara from eating people in that realm as well, which would just result in a continuing war as Flame Hazes fought to keep the balance and prevent human loss of existence. Also if the Snake screwed up with the creation process then it could potentially unmake all of reality and for some, that's just too great a risk to take. And the majority of Flame Hazes have major grievances against Tomogara and want revenge, and Xanadu could've potentially taken away their very reason to exist--don't let it be said that the Flame Hazes were entirely in the right.

Partially fixed by altering the rules of Xanadu to prevent Tomogara from being able to eat humans within the realm. And I guess the Four Gods wanted to create a warning of sorts--an event where hundreds of thousands of Tomogara lost their lives in one event for feeding on humans, so future Tomogara would be too scared to eat humans and get hunted down by Flame Haze for it.

Can't speak much for the Yuji/Shana conflict; having not seen it yet. So... lover's quarrel, I guess?

Rising Dragon already explained a bit, but here's some background info that will put things into more perspective.

Spoiler:

3,000 years ago, the Snake of the Festival first attempted to create Xanadu and was sealed away in the abyss. We don't get many details about how exactly this occurred in the anime, but from a few lines in some of the episodes the following information can be learned.

1) The first version of Xanadu was much different than what was ultimately created, consisting of a small city or "walled garden" as it was referred to once. It seems like this was some sort of prototype, I think, and it's not clear just how much progress the Snake made or what specifically the details of this Xanadu were.

2) The Snake of the Festival decided to do things peacefully with the Flame Hazes, and even invited them to his early Xanadu creation-in-progress.

3) The Flame Hazes, concerned that the Snake would accidentally destroy the world, were apparently not swayed by his words or offers of peace. The Flame Hazes that were invited fought the Snake anyways, and sacrificed themselves to seal him away. They did this out of an apparent belief they were saving the world from the Snake's (in their view) misguided attempts to create a paradise.

Now, since the Xanadu that is created at the end of the series is different in nature than the Snake's early work, and he also had the Midnight Lost Child to help him, we cannot say with absolute certainty that the Flame Hazes 3,000 years were wrong. But I personally think they were, that the Snake would not have destroyed the world. I think the ancient Flame Hazes made a horrible, horrible mistake.

Now, looking at the present, the Snake has finally been released, and he plans to create a new Xanadu on a grand scale. But based on what happened in the past, he's obviously less certain about doing things peacefully with the Flame Hazes. Indeed, much of the early conflict is essentially the Snake assuming that the Flame Hazes will find some reason or excuse to oppose him once again, and thus he should make war on them preemptively, and avoid revealing too much about his plans for fear that doing so would simply make it easier for the Flame Hazes to oppose him.

Did he make the right decision? Who knows.

Early on, the Flame Hazes, for their part, fight the Snake because... well, he's gone down in legend as a monster (unjustly, but they don't know that) and he's making war with them.

Once the Snake's plan is finally revealed to them, they oppose him mainly for the reason that Rising Dragon mentioned. They think that a Xanadu that doesn't have a rule that prohibits eating humans in it will just lead to disaster.

As to why the Snake and the Flame Hazes don't talk things out at that point, and are forced to use violence. Well, history. The history of what I just described above, for one thing. They both don't trust each other. And more than just that, there is a long history of bloodshed and violence and hatred between Flame Hazes and Denizens.

Essentially, you're right about how the battle was in a way meaningless. It should have been possible for them to avoid fighting, could have been if things had gone differently, but a history of bad blood and mistrust meant that they ended up fighting anyways.

I see now, thanks for the explanation.
This means the whole war was fought just out of fear and resentment — the Flame Hazes feared the legendary Snake of the Festival would be an evil being and undo reality or create something dangerous for the balance of the Power of Existence (or beared their personal grudges against Denizens and wanted to kill them all anyway); the Snake, that once wanted to solve things peacefully, now feared the Flame Hazes would oppose and seal him again if he tried to talk with them so attacked them first. It's all about mutual misunderstandings that led to loss of lives. This is...very sad, indeed.

However, I'd put the greater part of the blame on the ancient Flame Hazes.

In the end, Yuji battles Shana for... uh... no reason? He wants to be with her, she wants to be with him, yet they end up fighting each other. What for?

Spoiler for Reasons:

Yuji felt he deserved a large punishment for the loses of flamehaze and human life caused in reaching his goal in the war. So he felt he didn't deserve happiness for a long time from then, which is why he wouldn't allow himself to be with Shana, and that Shana wouldn't accept the deaths he caused as a part of his plan.

While Shana and Alastor obviously disagreed and felt their Yuji's punishment for himself was too harsh and too selfish since it ignored/assumed Shana's feelings. And Shana would not accept being apart from Yuji over something like this, so she fought against his reasoning.

Thus they fought over the difference in the believes on if he should be punished or not.

So he knew his plan would kill a whole lot of Flame Hazes and humans, but still got through with it even if he felt guilt, thinking from the beginning that he would not be reunited with Shana. I see.

Actually, I have one more question, but it isn't anime or manga related, hope it's still on-topic in Q&A thread.
I searched the Internet for the novels — I can't possibly hope to buy them raw, since that level of Japanese is way too difficult for me atm, and I could find only the first two volumes in English from a few years ago. Does this mean it won't be translated anymore?

So he knew his plan would kill a whole lot of Flame Hazes and humans, but still got through with it even if he felt guilt, thinking from the beginning that he would not be reunited with Shana. I see.

Actually, I have one more question, but it isn't anime or manga related, hope it's still on-topic in Q&A thread.
I searched the Internet for the novels — I can't possibly hope to buy them raw, since that level of Japanese is way too difficult for me atm, and I could find only the first two volumes in English from a few years ago. Does this mean it won't be translated anymore?

Unfortunately, if you mean official translations, yes. Or most likely. Viz licensed the series and released the first two novels a few years back, but I guess they didn't sell well enough or something, because they never released any further novels. I think they still have the license technically, but they don't seem to have any interest in doing anything with it anymore.

I don't get why Shana never had a name. She is older than she looks right?

She says stuff like she's a flame haze and not human so she doesn't need a name (she said that right?) but uhm... all the other flame haze have names. I mean what the hell has everyone been calling then before Yuuji called her Shana?

I don't get why Shana never had a name. She is older than she looks right?

She says stuff like she's a flame haze and not human so she doesn't need a name (she said that right?) but uhm... all the other flame haze have names. I mean what the hell has everyone been calling then before Yuuji called her Shana?

They typically called her by her Flame Haze title of "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter."

I don't understand the distinction between Tomogara (Denizen) and Ou (King). Are Kings the only ones that can make a contract with a human to create a flame haze? So all flame haze have kings in them. But how did Spiral Organ make a contract with Lamie then if Spiral Organ isn't a King?

Do the Flame Haze titles come with the King? So whoever Tiamat contracts with is "Manipulator of Objects"? Did Lamie get the title "Corpse Retrieve" because he's contracted with Spiral Organ?

Tomogara(Denizen) and Ou(Lord/king) are classified by their ability to store and manipulating the Power of Existence. Those who have these abilities will be honored as King. But there are also those who seclude themselves in the world without showing their true power; they will not be called Kings until the others acknowledge them.

Some Kings who form contract with human are not "King", their classification is tomogara but in honor of their devotion to protect the balance, they are called "King" after contract.

The title of the Flame Haze comes with the King who he/she made contract with. There are two examples of those who have the same titles with same Kings: Mathilde Saint-Omer >> Shana and Karl Berwald >> Chiara Toscana.

Tomogara(Denizen) and Ou(Lord/king) are classified by their ability to store and manipulating the Power of Existence. Those who have these abilities will be honored as King. But there are also those who seclude themselves in the world without showing their true power; they will not be called Kings until the others acknowledge them.

Some Kings who form contract with human are not "King", their classification is tomogara but in honor of their devotion to protect the balance, they are called "King" after contract.

The title of the Flame Haze comes with the King who he/she made contract with. There are two examples of those who have the same titles with same Kings: Mathilde Saint-Omer >> Shana and Karl Berwald >> Chiara Toscana.

So normally they have different titles depending on the person. So the manifested powers are different as well then? Wilhelmina is called "Manipulator of Objects" because she can control those bandages... if Tiamat contracted with someone else, that person won't necessarily have bandage powers?

Flame Hazes with same Kings usually use same powers instead of creating their own unique spells. But if Tiamat makes contract with others after Wilhelmina, that person has the choice to follow his/her predecessor's style of fighting or not:

-Chiara seems to follow her predecessor's footstep by training Karl's renowned ability to shoot aurora arrows and doesn't create her own spell. Another person is Yuri Chvojka (the Flame Haze kid who made an appearance in season 2, during Margerie's flashback) who use the same power as his many predecessors to control insects.

-On the other side, They could create new spells or abilities of their own. Like Shana who doesn't have to follow her predecessor's power to create an army of knights but choosing her own perspective of "strength". She creates her own spells: sword of flame, manifestation of Alastor's fist, etc.